OFallon Happy Holidaze

Formerly brewed at OFallon Brewery
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
OFallon, Missouri USA

Pours a murky dark brown with a nice, thinly lacing, frothy light tan head. Aroma is a very intriguing blend full of ginger, cinnamon sugar, and spearmint. Body starts with a light sugary gingerbread flavor, turning more cinnamon and nutmeg spicy with a clean mint finish and hints of dark chocolate. All these great flavors are there, but they could blend together a little better and be more balanced, but otherwise this is an interesting and enjoyable holiday brew. Thanks JPDIPSO!

Sampled two times within a month of each other, mainly because I thought the first bottle was fairly good... and certainly unique enough to warrant buying another. Big mistake. My first rating praised the chocolate and peppermint flavors, I thought they were pretty good on a cold winter night, served appropriately warm. I remembered this beer feeling moderately thick, with a biting, sweet candy and smoke finish. Well, the second time I had a bottle, it was an entirely different experience. It was thin, watery, sour, and moldy tasting. The peppermint clashed with everything else in the beer, and tasted like moldy toothpaste. So now I don’t know what to think. Most likely, for some odd reason, this beer just fit my mood at that exact instant when I first tried it.

The description says this has "a festive hint of peppermint," but I was almost knocked over by the strong, artificial candy cane aroma. The flavor is a thin, light roasted malt with a hint of cocoa and "a festive hint of PEPPERMINT!" The finish, likewise, had "a festive hint of PEPPERMINT!"

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eve & Winter Beer Tasting at Delilah’s, Chicago, IL 12/10/2005<font size=-1>

Chestnut color with a smallish beige head. Mint and roasted malt aromas. Nothing overpowering, nicely blended. Roasted malts with a touch of peppermint in flavor. Finish is more to the malty side with a mild black malt bite. Rather simple in feel. Nothing here that is offensive or overpowering, even though I did pick this one up with some trepidation. I would call it a mint brown porter.

Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is murky dark brown, bottle conditioned. Aroma is lightly malty (cookie), with a strong note of peppermint, light note of nutmeg. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. FInish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, heavily bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Oh ye gods...it’s like drinking mouthwash...gotta be peppermint. It might help slightly if I liked peppermint, but I don’t, and it’s STRONG here. Like a glass full of candy canes. Arrrrggh. Sorry, just can’t handle this one at all, I mean...a menthol beer would be just as disturbing. Ewww, damn. Make it go away.

Very creamy and dense off white head. A very very dark brown body with a little cloudiness. Aroma is bread, ginger, celery and cinnamon. Tastes are nutmeg, ginger and a very thick bread. Sethdude is correct, there is also mint in the finish. Refreshing. Mouthfeel is creamy and full. A nice treat for the winter. Thanks sethdude for the delivery!

Very murky and dark brown with a thin head. Big notes of chocolate-chip cookies and peppermint. The reindeer on the label has a bunch of candy canes caught in his antlers, but I didn’t believe they’d be in the beer. They are, and it’s kind of odd. It tastes a lot like mint chocolate chip ice cream, come to think of it. Can’t say I don’t like it, but ... it’s kind of like a car accident that you just can’t turn away from. Very weird stuff. Not as repulsive as I would’ve expected ... it’s actually drinkable.

A reddish brown appearance with almost no head. It has a strong cinammon and peppermint aroma. The flavor was a bit sour with the christmas spice showing through. Not impressed at all really.